The Long Haul Trucker is built, as you might expect, as a touring bike. But it does a lot of other stuff good too, like commuting, day trips, double centuries, and of course beer runs. We set it up with a triple crank, a reasonably wide-range rear gear cluster, and large-ish, comfy tires. Add racks and you’re ready to haul. We mean it. The frame is designed to be stable and supple fully loaded with gear. Other bikes, 'converted' touring bikes you might call them, simply don’t handle big loads as well. The Long Haul Trucker, like all our frames, is steel, because steel rides way better than aluminum or carbon fiber, and for less money. It’s got rack and fender mounts front and rear, three bottle mounts, even a spare spoke holder.
Strengths: Stable, durable, utilitarian, and comfortable. If you're looking for a bike built for touring, I wouldn't hesitate to tell you to get out and pick one up. This bike has been wonderful on countless all-day rides. If you can only afford one bike, this bike works great as a commuter bike as well.
Weaknesses: If you pick up a complete LHT, the saddle will need to be replaced if you're going to do any touring. Also, the bar-end shifters can be awkward if you ever find yourself riding out of the saddle on a hill or in a sprint. This is typically only an issue while using the bike as a commuter as it's rare you'll find yourself in a sprint on a fully loaded bike.
Bottom Line:
The Long Haul Trucker is a great steel frame bike built specifically for bicycle touring. With a lower bottom bracket and long chain stay, the bike is made to stay stable with the extra weight of touring and give you a little extra clearance between your heal and rear panniers. The LHT also has a ton of braze-ons for racks and fenders, extra spokes stashed on the frame in case you break some, and room for wider tires (“fatties fit fine”) for a cushier ride. It seems this bike is becoming more and more popular which is a great testament to its quality and durability. This bike does what it was designed to do very well!
Similar Products Used: Novara Safari, Specialized Crosscheck
Bike Setup: Stock setup from REI.
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Submitted by
ian shafer
a Commuter
Date Reviewed: July 23, 2011
Strengths: steel frame is awesome soaks up bumps and vibration better that a big shocked MTB.
a lot of Shimano XT parts and the bar end shifters are the higher end ones( these take some time to get used to but are pretty easy when you get the hang of it).
Weaknesses: cork tape on handle bars is EHHH.
Bottom Line:
got this bike mainly for the 20+ mile round trip commute. huge improvement over my trek 3500. really want to do a century or two a year but not this year. still every thing this bike came with is top notch i only changed out the seat for a brooks flyer.
changed out stem for a kalloy uno adjustable. also put on schawble marathon plus tires. this bike is awesome right out of the box but i wanted some special features that would suit me better.
Similar Products Used: this is my first road bike.
Bike Setup: stock other than seat, tires and stem.
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Submitted by
Ian Pavey
a Recreational Rider
Date Reviewed: June 15, 2011
Strengths: Easy to ride, strong, very stable, easy to attach pannier racks, mudguards etc. Can buy the frame separately and build a bike to suit yourself.
Weaknesses: Could be a bit lighter maybe (it is a bit of a tank!).
Bottom Line:
Mines' a 2010 build. Wanted to build a bike using the components of my choice. I was after a bike which was excellent for touring and fine for general recreational biking. Ordering the frame and major components online saved me quite a bit, plus I had a heap of fun building it, including lacing up my own wheels. Notched up 1000 kms quite quickly, including a 130 km shakedown day trip. Now it's my favourite ride. Comfortable, stable, dependable. It's become like a best buddy.
Strengths: It is not a race bike, it is steel, therefore bullet proof. Great bang for the buck, rugged, comfortable, age appropriate gearing (rider is 61), all braze ons and eyelets that anyone needs. Complete build uses time tested components that are more than up to the task. Rock solid on high speed down hills. Works good enough on mild single track and dirt roads. Glenn Swan does great job with fit and service.
Weaknesses: It is not a race bike, it is steel therefore heavier than most but so am I. Try out the fit before you buy -- my other road bike is a 64cm, the Surly is a 56. Top tube and overall fit is similar, not a problem but geometry is different than some.
Bottom Line:
My Surly LHT is a 2010 but that was not an option on the pull down menu. Just doing a 5,000 tune up and am please to say that so far there has been only one flat due to a large staple and no other problems. Only adjustments have been a half turn to each of the front limit screws. Bike is stock complete build with the addition of the B17 and racks front and back. It has been hauling a 205 lb rider, sometime with full gear and sometimes with a trailer. Used it for several century rides, TOSRV, Bike Virginia, loaded touring, and club rides. Great hill climber. Here in upstate NY the roads are sometimes terrible due to pot holes and frost heaves. Wheels have stayed absolutely true.
Similar Products Used: Zebrakenko Wind, Aegis ProAxe, Lemond Nevada City
Bike Setup: Stock Surly complete build with Brooks B17, Axiom racks front and rear and a front top rack mounted to brake studs.
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Submitted by
Hamish Blanch
a Recreational Rider
Date Reviewed: April 8, 2011
Strengths: A bomb proof rugged bike well suited for the purpose it's designed for....touring.
Weaknesses: None....totally satisfied.
Bottom Line:
Bikes were purchase in 2010.My wife and I each brought 54cm Surly LHT's and completed a 7 month, 11,000km camping tour across USA/Canada, and east Coast USA.
As general maintainance we replaced chains at about 8,000km, and I also replaced the cluster which was showing signs of excessive wear (I'm heavier than my wife and carrying more gear).
We fitted Schwalbe Marathon plus tyres 26x 1.50, mine needed replacing after 8,000km (5 punctures) and my wife's lasted the entire trip...and nil punctures!.
The bikes gave no trouble whatsoever.
We have used Brooks seats for many years, and fitted our old comfortable seats on purchase.
We were totally happy with the bikes and intend to use them on further travels in the USA/Canada (in storeage USA for our return)
Favorite Ride: They're all good...but we do love our home area, the south Island of New Zealand.
Price Paid:
$1366.00
Purchased At: River City Cycles Po
Similar Products Used: Univega Specilissma...20,000km tour 1982/83.
Various converted to touring rigid framed mountain bikes over the years, currently a Scott Windriver and Avanti Ridgerider.
Bike Setup: Stock bikes. Brooks saddles.Blackburn racks.Ortlieb classic bags. Full mudguards (fenders).
